James White Star Makenzie Leigh Is "Definitely Afraid" of Her Growing Fame

Wearing a cool-girl fusion of cozy knits, textured pieces, and mesmerizing embellishments, actress Makenzie Leigh captivates in InStyle's December issue. See an excerpt from our story with her below, and for the full feature, pick up the issue, available on newsstands and for digital download now.

Makenzie Leigh closes one eye and draws back the string of her bow. The 25-year-old is a budding archer, or at least an enthusiastic one.

As she stands in Brooklyn's Gotham Archery, wearing black leather Guess jeans, a Relic T-shirt, and black Feit sneakers, her stance is sure, and her focus is sharp. The world melts away: the accolades for her recent roles in The Slap and Gotham; her turn as the love interest of a troubled character in James White; the classes she fits in at Manhattan's New School; the West Village apartment she shares with her boyfriend, a psychiatrist named Daryl; her reading list (currently Alison Bechdel's Fun Home); and her appreciation of cocktails. "It's not a hobby but a necessity," she'll say later, joking.

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Next up, Leigh appears in Ang Lee's Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, as a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader who catches Billy's eye. She doesn't think of her growing fame, which she says she's "definitely afraid of," before admitting, "Everything so far has been positive, so it makes me think that I need to just calm down because it's going to be fine.”

She inhales, exhales halfway, and releases the string. The arrow flies to its mark and hits the bull's-eye, or as close to the bull's-eye as an amateur can rightly expect. But Leigh doesn't seem concerned. After all, she's just getting started.

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For more from Leigh, pick up the December issue of InStyle, available on newsstands and for digital download now. Check out the trailer for James White, in theaters now, here: